“Our heart and our flesh may fail us,
And the mists of sin may rise;
They may hide the land of the glory
From our faithless wandering eyes.
But the Spirit within us fails not
Forever to tell of Him;
And His face is seen in its beauty
When all is dim.”
The darkest night-hour is just before the dawn. This is often true in the life-story of men and women on this earth. It was so here at Ziklag. Never had there been such a moment of gloom in the career of David up to this time. Never had he fallen so low, but he has learned this lesson: he turns from all that he is and from all his sin-though not till it was fully confessed-and finds the surpassing grace of Jehovah can abound over all his deep failure. Then he can rejoice in God once more, and go on humbled and dependent, his conscience and heart restored to the loving faith that had marked him before his fears led him to the foe for shelter.
Only two days had passed since their return to Ziklag, after the pursuit of the Amalekites, when news came to David of the utter defeat of the army of Israel and of the death in battle of Saul and three of his sons. Here again an Amalekite appears, for he it is who brought to Ziklag the tidings of the death of Saul, and not only this. The crown that was upon the head of the dead king, and the bracelet that was upon his arm he had dared to take, and now presented them to David, skewing how not only all Israel and Judah must have known that he was the future king, but that the neighboring nations also knew it. When he was closely questioned by David it came out that he was wandering over the field where the battle had been, and found Saul lying amongst the wounded and slain leaning upon his spear. Mortally wounded and longing for death he tells the Amalekite to slay him and thus end his bodily sufferings. This he did, and then—with the crown and bracelet as proof of his death —he goes to tell David of Saul’s last moments.
He knew—as who did not?—of the persecution that the son of Jesse had endured at the hand of the dead king, and he no doubt counted upon getting a large reward for his service in being the first one to bring the news to Ziklag. He could not conceive they would be anything other than welcome, but in reality it was grief and sorrow to David to hear them. That even an Amalekite should dare to slay the anointed king was very terrible to him, and he lets him know this before he orders his execution as the one who had slain Jehovah’s anointed. There was no rejoicing or exultation in David’s heart over the fall of his enemy. All the sufferings he had caused him were at once forgotten, and he only thought of Saul as he had been used to do, in hearing of the time when all Israel gloried in their newly-crowned king and in his brave campaigns. Only what was lovely and pleasant does he remember now of Saul, not one word of blame has he, but only of affection.
Very pathetic is the lamentation he utters over him and Jonathan, and deep was his sorrow at their fall, as he said, “The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen!.... I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. How are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!”
A day of fasting and mourning for Saul, and his sons, and for all Israel, was this day when the Amalekite first told the sad tidings. David and his men—for they had been with him long enough to share his spirit—wept and fasted with sorrow of heart for the blow that had fallen so heavily upon poor Israel.
Some time after this, without any haste, or seeking, to seize the kingdom, David and his men are quietly remaining at Ziklag, till the accustomed days of mourning for the king and his sons had passed away. Then at last David “inquired of Jehovah, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And Jehovah said unto him, Go up.” Now this is not enough for the one who is again finding his joy in dependence upon God. So he asks, “Whither shall I go up?” And Jehovah said, “Unto Hebron.”
Can we not enter a little into the deep sense of relief and gratitude that must have filled the hearts of David and his faithful followers who loved him, when once more they found themselves in their own land—Jehovah’s land—and outside Philistia? It soon became known that they were in Hebron, and before long the men of Judah—the royal tribe—came to him there, and owned his title to the throne as given him by Jehovah. There his whole tribe assembled and anointed David king over Judah. This was the beginning of his reign, he must still wait in patience for the moment when he shall be crowned king over all Israel. And he does wait.
In nothing will he go before God’s appointment for him. Abner, ‘Saul’s commander-in-chief, had taken Ish-bosheth, the one remaining son of Saul, and made him king over Israel. For this he had, of course, no real authority. David, however, bows quietly to the will of God, and knowing his divine title to the whole kingdom he is able to wait patiently until he is put into possession of it by Jehovah, who has given it to him.
For the first time now, we find one man amongst the followers of David coming to the front. Joab has not been named in the account of his “mighty men,” nor has he signalized himself by any special act of devotedness or faith, as some of them had done. As a relative of David, he has been one who has shared his wanderings, knowing full well that the day would surely come when he would be put in the supreme place of dignity and glory. A clever, bold man, Joab is utterly unscrupulous as to what means he uses to gain his own end. Ambitious and far-seeing, he means to have the chief place in the army of David, and without remorse will get rid of any who seem likely to prevent this. Could the son of Jesse have foreseen the ascendency this man would get, he would scarcely have allowed him to take the place he did, and thus become a great source of trial to him, for Joab was far from sharing the faith of David. Politic and skillful as a general, he was a support to the king in that way, but it was one of the fatal weaknesses of his rule that he did not at once show Joab that deeds of injustice should be unsparingly dealt with.
Through personal feeling, Abner, the son of Ner, who had made Ish-bosheth king over Israel, now goes to David, desiring to make a league with him and bring all Israel under his dominion. David is willing to do this, and Abner then goes to the men of Benjamin and the other tribes and confers with them as to why David has not his rightful place yet. He leads them to desire this now, and then returns to David to hold a council with him. The meeting takes place, and Abner and his suite of twenty followers are hospitably entertained by the king, and when he leaves David it is to go and gather all Israel together and bring them before him to make him king over the whole kingdom.
The tidings of these things are told to Joab when he returns to Hebron, from which he had been absent on a victorious raid when Abner was there. He is little inclined to allow the chief of Saul’s army to become a supporter of David. He determines to have no rival in his place with the king, and he even dares to go in and reprove him for sending Abner away in safety. Then with heartless treachery he sends messengers after Abner, who, not suspecting evil, returns to the gate of Hebron, where Joab goes to him as if he wished to speak in a friendly way, and takes him aside from his men and draws his sword and kills him there.
It was an act of horrible cruelty to remove one whom he feared might supersede him. The motive alleged—that Abner had slain his brother Asahel in the battle—may have had some influence, but from what we read of Joab after we are obliged to own that jealousy had a large part in this heartless crime. David was again greatly distressed, for Abner had won his respect in a degree, and he felt that he had lost a friend. He at once avowed his horror of the deed of Joab, and his condemnation of it, and yet was not strong enough to show his displeasure by degrading Joab from his rank of chief.
He felt his need of him in the kingdom, but better would it have been, one thinks, had he simply leaned upon God as to this, and removed such a man from his presence. He does what he can—he commands not only the people, but Joab, too, to put on sackcloth and rend their clothes and mourn before Abner. David himself followed the bier, and they buried Abner in Hebron. The king fasted all that day, and all Israel knew that he had no hand in putting Abner to death. To his servants he said, “Know ye not that there is a prince and a great man fallen this day in Israel? And I am this day weak, though anointed king; and these.... sons of Zeruiah be too hard for me.”
Though Joab was a nephew of the king, he could not have been much younger than his uncle. He and his brothers seem to have obtained a great influence over him unhappily, and David felt this, though his more yielding character prevented his ever taking his rightful place over them. Weakness, or worse, we see in all the kingdoms of earth, and shall do so till “a king shall reign in righteousness,” for then” the Lord shall be king over the whole earth—and his name one.”
The city of Hebron, which became the royal city and the capital of Judah for the seven years that David reigned there, has a long history. Built seven years before Zoan in Egypt, it was even then—in the time of David—one of the oldest cities of Canaan. From that date until now its history is traceable, and it is even now a place of some importance. Lying along the vale of Mamre the city with its numbers of domed houses appears well built, and for Palestine fairly prosperous. The vineyards were the most famous in the country. It was here the spies found the huge cluster of grapes that they carried back to Moses; and fifty years ago the vale was still celebrated for its fine grapes.
The destructive government of the Turks has been the ruin of the vineyards, and as all fruit trees were taxed they ceased to be grown. This has caused the valley to lose much of its former beauty, for now the neglected terraces are broken down in many places, and the hills look barren and desolate where once they were fertile and beautiful. The wonderful pools, or reservoirs, built by Solomon are still to be seen to the east of Hebron, and are in a marvelous state of preservation. Constructed of hard marble, of immense size, they provided an almost inexhaustible supply of purest water for Jerusalem, and with the aqueducts along which the water flowed formed one of the greatest possible feats of engineering. A few years ago the aqueduct carried only a trickling stream as far as Bethlehem.
During the last two years, however, Jerusalem has been having a water supply from the city of David’s birth, probably brought from these same pools, as they lie very near it.
Hebron, after David’s short reign of seven years there, is seldom named in Scripture history. The death of Abner was a great blow to the son of Saul, and to all Israel. Two of his captains, who well knew-as all in Israel did-how David had suffered at the hands of Saul, now thought to gain his favor by killing their master and going to him with the news. Cruel and treacherous, they succeed in their plot, and Ish-bosheth is slain by them as he lies at rest, not suspecting danger. They go at once to Hebron to the king of Judah, but when he has found what they have done he is horrified at their heartless treachery. Instead of exulting that the last hindrance to his kingdom is removed, he feels the guilt of what they have done—treats it as murder—and after showing them his indignation by refusing to own their deed commands their execution.
Again all Israel saw that David was innocent of complicity in this act of the two captains. In patience he waits still, and makes no effort to seize upon the kingdom of Israel. He leaves it to God, sure that His time will come at last—and it did. Maintaining the dignity of the place given him by divine right by forcing all the tribes to see that God’s king has no need to snatch at what, He has decreed for him, he goes on ruling over Judah till the people of Israel come to him and own that they know he is the one to whom Jehovah has given the scepter of the whole land.
Hebron sees the sweet psalmist of Israel anointed king over all the country—the promised land—and David is now in the position where he is the one link between the twelve tribes and Jehovah. We see from his own words that he felt the deep responsibility laid thus upon him, for all blessing for Israel, as a nation, depended upon the king. He says, “Mine eyes shall be upon the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me: he that walketh in a perfect way, he shall serve me.... He that telleth lies shall not tarry in my sight.... I will sing of mercy and judgment: unto Thee, O Jehovah, will I sing” (Psa. 101).
Hebron is no longer to be the royal residence. David at once turns in heart to Jerusalem, though the fort was still in possession of the Canaanites. He felt it was a dishonor to allow the strongest citadel in his kingdom to be left in the hands of the race accursed by Jehovah. His first campaign has for its end to take possession of Jerusalem and the stronghold there, and he goes up now at the head of the army of all Israel. The place was considered impregnable by the inhabitants, and they tauntingly tell David that the lame and blind would be enough to hold it against him. Strongly fortified as it was, it was conquered, and David took “the castle of Zion, which is the city of David.”
Here Joab comes to the front, for the king had said, “Whosoever smiteth the Jebusites first shall be chief and captain.” It was a rash promise, but Joab succeeds in being the one who was first, and is made commander-in-chief of the army of Israel. This post he keeps throughout the reign of David, but only by means as cruel and heartless as his getting rid of Abner had been. David now takes up his abode in the castle of Zion, and Jerusalem was his home for the rest of his life. He soon began building round about, and added greatly to the beauty and strength of the city. Joab is also mentioned as restoring a great part—that which had been destroyed in the siege possibly.
From this time Zion becomes a very marked place. David seems ever to have had a special love for it, and in itself it was a sign of marvelous grace. Never were things at a much lower ebb than just before this time. Saul and his sons dead on Gilboa by the weapons of the Philistines —having been forsaken of God—and the man anointed as king by the prophet of Jehovah seeking refuge in the land of his enemy! Yet soon after this grace restores and begins to bring the kingdom out of the chaos it had fallen into, and at last the very center of the power of the foe is overcome, and Zion becomes the dwelling-place of the warrior king whom Jehovah uses to establish His people in the land. Well may Zion typify grace! “The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.”
Here it was that David built his house. Hiram, king of Tire, seeks his friendship, for the Gentiles soon perceive that a very different rule is being firmly established in the land of Israel from anything that had gone before. The king of God’s choice is reigning over a people who are being taught that justice and judgment are to be looked for now, as well as grace and mercy. And the king goes on consolidating the kingdom, and grows famous, for Jehovah was with him. The messengers and cedar trees and workmen sent to him by Hiram, the Tyrian king, are a tribute really to the power of God, who had set him as monarch over His people and was exalting his kingdom for their sake.
Jerusalem was soon to become a great power in the midst of all the countries round about it. This power was very real, but transitory, for evil came in and departure from God, and again it had to be said, “the glory has departed from Israel.”
The time is coming though when a glory such as never has been before shall rest upon the dwellings of Mount Zion, when the dreary desolation that has been for so long over the land shall be banished forever, and the Lord Himself shall be in the midst of His restored people, “and upon all the glory shall be a defense” (Isa. 4:55And the Lord will create upon every dwelling place of mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence. (Isaiah 4:5)).
The Philistines seem to have left David in peace while he was simply ruling over Judah, but when they hear that he is the anointed king over united Israel, they come up to contest his supremacy. Remembering the kindly way in which Achish, the king of Gath, had treated him, David would probably not have sought war with them without cause, but when they take the initiative and come to attack him he goes to meet them. First, he inquires of Jehovah—in true dependence—“Shall I go up to the Philistines? wilt Thou deliver them into mine hand? And Jehovah said unto David, Go up: for I will doubtless deliver them into thine hand.” The result of the battle was a signal victory for Israel, the Philistines who were not slain flying before them in such utter rout and confusion that they even allowed their idols to fall into the hands of their enemies, and David and his men burned them there.
It is very beautiful to see the tender consideration of God for His servant in causing so many years to elapse before the Philistines came up to fight against David. When first he left their country, where for a year and some months he had found refuge from the hatred of Saul, it would have been very painful for him to be involved in conflict with those who had at least given him shelter in their land. As year after year passed away, the remembrance of his being there grew dim, and it may be that the king whom he knew had died. At any rate, ten years or so make a great difference, and there was not the same feeling about war with them now as there would have been at first. It was loving-kindness that ordered it so, and encouragement to us thus to learn something more of our God through His ways with His people of old, for He is “the same yesterday, and to-day, and forever.”